The Delaware State Courts will be closed on Monday, December 24th and Tuesday, December 25th for the Christmas holiday. Justice of the Peace Courts 11 (New Castle County), 7 (Kent County) and 3 (Sussex County) will remain open.

About Us

Mission

The law libraries provide legal information resources for the Judicial Branch, Attorney General, Public Defender, other state agencies, members and prospective members of the Delaware Bar Association and pro se litigants and function as the official depository of state laws, agency rules and regulations, administrative and board regulations, court opinions, advisory memoranda and policy directives.

Key Objectives:

Effectively manage all types of legal information.

Provide assistance and comprehensive legal resources to a variety of library users.

Background and Accomplishments

The primary purpose of law libraries is to provide legal information to the judicial branch. The libraries also support other legal agencies within the state, as well as members of the legal community and pro se litigants. Each law library strives to maintain as many current and archival Delaware legal resources as possible. A law library is maintained in each county in Delaware as outlined in 10 Del. C. § 1941.

Activities

The libraries provide an optimum balance of current technology, legal tools and information training to provide maximum support to the judiciary, legal community, pro se applicants, and surrounding state agencies.

Structure, organize, and evaluate the libraries inventory based on current legal needs of the judiciary, while maintaining and preserving archival materials for future purposes.

Collaborate and cooperate with other organizations and libraries within the state and country to provide a diverse and comprehensive coverage of legal materials.

Direct patrons on where to locate specific topics or legal information whether in electronic or print form, or by a hybrid of both methods.

Conduct yearly law library tours to familiarize judicial law clerks and staff with the law libraries.

Research and retrieve information from books, periodicals, reference materials, other law libraries or commercial databases in response to judicial requests.

Assist resource sharing among the three judicial libraries by collecting shelf list holdings for the creation of a union list of the libraries that is available to the Judiciary through the state intranet.

Provide and maintain a physical environment conducive to researching the law.

Provide online legal tutorials to familiarize patrons with the search functions of the different databases.